Drug menace grips India and spills into Kashmir
Delhi deliberately flooding IIOK with narcotics to cripple youth
New Delhi: India is facing a fast-growing drug abuse crisis, with opioids, alcohol, and synthetic stimulants wreaking havoc across both rural and urban communities.
According to Kashmir Media Service, from Punjab to southern India and even into Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the rampant spread of narcotics has not only devastated countless lives but has also raised serious questions about the alleged involvement of Hindutva political actors, Indian armed forces and intelligence agencies in fueling the crisis—particularly in the conflict-ridden occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
According to health experts and social welfare groups, India’s drug abuse problem has reached alarming levels, cutting across geographic, economic, and social boundaries.
In northern states like Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, the opioid crisis has reached epidemic proportions. Reports indicate that heroin and opium are widely abused, especially among the youth.
In southern India, a different but equally dangerous trend is emerging—prescription drug abuse. Painkillers and anti-anxiety medications are being misused in large numbers, often without proper prescriptions or medical oversight.
In urban centres like Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore, cocaine and methamphetamine have become popular, especially among the upper-middle-class youth. The party culture and easy availability through underground networks have made these drugs dangerously accessible.
Meanwhile, in rural India, alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis remain the most commonly consumed intoxicants. These are often used during local festivals or cultural rituals, but habitual abuse has led to growing public health challenges.
The drug crisis takes a deeply disturbing turn in occupied Jammu and Kashmir, where activists, journalists, and civil society members accuse the Indian state of deliberately flooding the region with narcotics to cripple the youth and sabotage the ongoing freedom struggle.
According to multiple local sources, alcohol shops and narcotics distribution have been encouraged by the Indian army and BJP-led government, under the guise of normalization. In fact, wine shops have been allowed to operate openly in several parts of IIOJK, despite strong local opposition and religious sensitivities.
“The aim is clear,” said a Srinagar-based rights activist. “They want to weaken the social fabric and disconnect Kashmiri youth from the resistance movement by making them dependent on substances.”
Moreover, allegations have surfaced pointing to the involvement of Indian army personnel, Special Operations Group (SOG), and police officers in peddling narcotics within the Valley. Intelligence reports have highlighted the role of RSS-backed networks in running a well-organized drug mafia that spans across India and reaches into Kashmir.
